what backup program would you use if you didnt care about the money

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by zfactor, Jan 11, 2010.

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  1. lodore

    lodore Registered Member

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    linky
     
  2. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    o_O
    What was the last version that you used?
    IFW is one of the faster performers if not the fastest (for full buckups) and the default compression algorithm is very good.
    The only other program that beats its speed is DriveSnapshot and not in all system configurations.
    Unless you are talking about the differentials where IFW is very slow (has similar speed to shadow protect when it does differentials) and the reason is that both products compare every used sector of the current state of the drive, with those of the initial image.

    Panagiotis
     
  3. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    tbimount..
    Ya, me too,. hadnt seen that. Cool.
    Pandlouk is right about the manuals..:thumb:
     
  4. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Thank you very much for this. I think I will recommend this program for a friend of mine who I am trying to help out. I tried installing Paragon 10 free and we are having problems backing up with it. Evidently there are a number of issues and while work arounds have been provided I would prefer a more solid solution since my friend is a total novice at this. She has 4 PCs that need backing up but hopefully Paragon can be made to work properly on at least one of her systems so I may be able to convince her that IFW is the way to go for the others. She really does need an "as fool-proof as possible" program, this on seems to be a good candidate.
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  6. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    i had this type of problem with the previous version but only when the drive was split during installation by win7 into the 100mb and other partition. as long as i installed with everything on one partition though it was fine. i have not tested the newest version yet with win7 as i have not needed to but i think i might just to see.
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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  8. HAN

    HAN Registered Member

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    I own SP, IFW (along with Image for DOS which is included with IFW) and Paragon. I use them all solely from the recovery disc environments (non-installed and means that I use IFD instead of IFW) So I realize that my experiences may be a little value in this instance.

    That said, ShadowProtect is head and shoulders above the other two. While they are all very reliable, SP is the easiest to use and blazingly fast. I just wish their customer service was like TerabyteUnlimited's service. Paragon's response time is slower than I'd like too...
     
  9. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    so no one has suggested macrium paid, i use it and like it myself any reasons for this? just curious
     
  10. Longboard

    Longboard Registered Member

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    @zfactor
    I looked at this nice tool recently after very positive reviews and had a good experience with set-up and use for my simple needs.

    There was nothing specifically wrong, just am so attuned to Terabyte apps and "working environment" of same all squared across my home and work MS systems with no issues and ....BING. ;)

    Have never regretted getting FDISR and I hope to on high that FDISR -that absolute genius app- reappears updated :( but that's a bit moot atm.

    Recently added VMWare to the mix.

    These three Tools: the Terabyte apps, VMWare and FDISR are my current foundations.

    I've scaled back on some of my more 'exotic' experiments and have a stable system at home and work with reliable back-up strategies in place, but things change.

    Have never -yet- needed to deploy any other solutions, in fact possibly some overkill there ?...but still learning, and ready to consider other solutions if/as they arise, but would be difficult to give up Terabyte at this point.

    There are lots of other credible options available.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2010
  11. Technic

    Technic Registered Member

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  12. MerleOne

    MerleOne Registered Member

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    Hi,

    I am a bit surprised by all the positive comments about SP : I used the 3.5 demo version and found some issues like this one : image file naming really is confusing when you mix full and diff archives.

    Worse : sometimes, for no obvious reason, the created image is a full one instead of a differential one. So, based on a few weeks of usage, I find it no easier to use, even harder, than other products.

    The recovery CD is very well made though. Regarding restoration reliability, I really cannot say anything, I haven't tried yet.
     
  13. Technic

    Technic Registered Member

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    About SP, it does not see my system drive c: (or drive D:, same HDD) when using Rescue Environment. This is major turn off for me. Any ideas? :doubt:
     
  14. MerleOne

    MerleOne Registered Member

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    With both WinPE & Linux boot mode ?
     
  15. Technic

    Technic Registered Member

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    Tried WinPE (Vista Mode?) and Linux mode. I am using W7 Ultimate 32-Bit.

    I have Macrium Reflect Full version and WinPE and Linux mode by Macrium are working.
     
  16. jonono

    jonono Registered Member

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    Hello ! 1st post here, jumping in on this thread -
    after spending a loong few days studying many forum posts,
    beginning w/ the 31 p. debate "Alternative to True Image (nervous nellie)" :D

    ... seems like some preferences for backup SW have changed (Peter2150 to SP),
    and some haven't (Longboard w/ Terabyte).

    I paid for Terabyte's full offering several years ago, but could not figure it out at the time,
    combined with my first efforts on a machine that, in old "Furballi"'s words -
    was just not gonna work with Terabyte (either BING or IFW).

    I do have to say that Terabyte support did everything possible to help me -
    but the combo of the machine + my neophyte status at the time = no success.

    I try to dL user manuals & read/study about any software before I commit,
    as well as visit mfr forums - so on that basis I decided against Acronis,
    despite the evangelism of several incredibly experienced I.T. friends.

    Picking up Paragon 8.5 Drive Backup at the time -
    the GUI was friendly & simple enough that I had my 1st successful experience,
    & so I have ever since w/ several hundred image/restores to date -
    including both hot & cold backups, but all on relatively simple (non-RAID) systems.

    I'm just beginning to use their newest v10 Backup/Restore,
    since it speaks GPT and supposedly images BootCamp installs,
    and I'm preparing to put that to the test next week.

    Back then, I was also never able to understand how to create a boot CD with Drive Snapshot,
    and I've bookmarked some posts here on how to do that -
    so I might just have to do that for the learning experience.

    But at the same time, as people have pointed out -
    why not stick with what works & HAS worked without fail, for me?

    Still, having paid for the full Terabyte meal-deal,
    I do wanna have some success experiences with that also.

    To wrapup - I'm like the OP's client - money is not the issue -
    Dependable Functionality + Options IS !

    Looking forward to sharing on this friendly forum, thanks ..
     
  17. Aaron Here

    Aaron Here Registered Member

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    The thing is there's no need or significant advantage to place Drive Snapshot on a boot CD; it's truly portable, so you can run it (snapshot.exe) from just about anywhere (I chose to place a copy of this small DS executable on the same USB external drive where I store my backups). You can use any standard WinPE CD (such as UBCD4Win) to bootup, then navigate to where you have the executable and simply run it. ;)
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2010
  18. dcrowe0050

    dcrowe0050 Registered Member

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    I vote Macrium Reflect all the way. Never failed me once and very easy to use. I had some problems with SP when I trialed it before buying Macrium. As for IFW, the only reason I didn't buy it is because I was so familiar with Macrium. So my 2nd place vote goes to IFW.
     
  19. jonono

    jonono Registered Member

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    thx Aaron - I saw your recommendation to do this elsewhere in the forum, along w/ n8chavez' tips .

    So I plan to play with that for the learning experience.

    That's another thing impressing me about the general attitude here - curiosity + experimentation + desire to try other proggies
    even tho' one probably won't stay with them - there's lots to be learned in the crucible of X-perimenting, eh?

    Thankfully I have multiple rigs of multiple flavors to play on :D
     
  20. pajenn

    pajenn Registered Member

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    I use Acronis True Image Home 2010 on my main computer and Macrium Reflect 4.2 Free on older computers. (The former requires 1GB or more ram for some features). I tested ShadowProtect 3.5 and Image for Windows 2.52 and both performed comparably to the Acronis and Macrium: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=208232

    Acronis offers more options (conveniences) than the free edition of Macrium, but is more resource hungry and therefore not well-suited for older machines. One of these features is a Try & Decide mode, which is a system virtualizer similar to Returnil or Shadow Defender, but it also allows you to remain in virtual mode through reboots unlike other virtualizers I know. (Great feature when you are testing a software that requires a reboot).

    The thing I like about Image for Windows is its size; the installer is about 6MB compared to 110MB for Acronis, for example. Also, it does not add any extra auto-startups or services to my system.

    In my tests (see link) IFW2 performed very well in size (compression) and speed of backups. It also offers a BartPE (WinPE) plugin.
     
  21. pajenn

    pajenn Registered Member

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    I ran True Image Home 2010 and ShadowProtect 3.5 off a WinPE USB flash disk to backup my C: partition (45 GB, two-thirds full) on an external hard drive (USB2 connection). The results were almost identical:

    Acronis: 18,427,164 KB and 29 min (1768 s)
    StorageCraft: 18,745,403 KB and 29 min (1728 s)

    I suppose the USB2 connection and external hard drive speed may have been the limiting factors in backup speed. Since the two programs should not be installed on the same machine I cannot test them live.

    I also did a recovery with the ShadowProtect backup and that was quick and flawless.
     
  22. pajenn

    pajenn Registered Member

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    Round 2: Differential/Incremental performance from WinPE disk:
    Acronis: +365,713 KB and 2 min (105 s)
    StorageCraft: +213,752 KB and 16 min (981 s)

    Scenario: Since the last (full) backups I had moved about 1 GB worth of data and programs off my system partition (C:), but no defrags or such. Image for Windows 2.53 was just released and I wanted to see if this version would work with Acronis installed on the same machine. (The previous versions have not in my case). Normally I use Acronis Try & Decide for stuff like that, but since I'm testing backup programs I chose to make the incremental backups with True Image 2010 and ShadowProtect 3.5 too.

    P.S. IFW still didn't work with Acronis installed (Windows stops assigning letters to my USB flash disks). And I used Try & Decide to roll it back because that's basically just a reboot. (Running your computer in Try & Decide mode does slow things down tough).
     
  23. firzen771

    firzen771 Registered Member

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    im really liking macrium reflect, extremely simple and does its job, good compression as well as far as im concerned, my aprox 100gb drive down to about 66gb:thumb:
     
  24. jonono

    jonono Registered Member

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    I tried the Macrium Reflect and it's loading small, fast, & simple,
    I think it has promise for many low/no tech people
    to get them using an imaging strategy.
     
  25. pandlouk

    pandlouk Registered Member

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    Those results are not a surprise.
    Acronis, macrium, drivesnapshot,... use checksums to compare the differences between the basic and the differential image, while Shadowprotect, Image For DOS/Windows/Linux,... do a byte for byte comparison.

    Panagiotis
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2010
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